exabyte407

if your max transfer rate is 250 MB/s and your ssd is connected to sata2, it means that it's perfectly

But you have to understand why it is always or almost 100%

you have tried to see in the task manager which is the task that you care more cpu?

ciao

Yeah, I think the main reason that I'm having so many issues is just the drive is really bad. Looking at reviews, everyone else who bought it also had the same problems. A firmware update will probably fix it, but I need to burn myself a win8 cd before I do that just in case.

My cpu is staying relatively low. Usually doesn't use more than 25% and stays under 5 most the time. Anyways, thanks everyone who tried to helped me with this problem. I think I'll just get a new drive at some point (currently studying abroad so it'd be hard to get one here, but it'll be the first thing I do when I get back)

If you follow the steps, it typically doesn't cause data loss. But that being said, I always recommend a backup before updating, as does Crucial in their guide.

Rapid Store Manager typically is used whenever you have an intel chipset, and works in AHCI, RAID, and IDE modes. It sets tuning options in the registry and monitors smart status on drives. I believe it also sets TRIM options, but I could be wrong.

That brings up another good point, ensure that trim is enabled on your computer!

Open an administrative command prompt and type in: fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

Please post the result of this. If it shows a 0, trim is enabled. If it shows a 1, trim is disabled.

I would agree with the fact that updated firmware seems to make the drive work better, as the speed in mixed mode and full speed mode were both addressed according to Crucial.

I did a check and Trim is enabled. And sounds good. I will install the Rapid store manager and see if it improves performance!

Your bios is the latest version, which is a good starting point.

First, ensure you have the latest firmware for your SSD.

According to Crucial's site this is Version 25 (released 2/20/2013). This updated fixed full disk performance and mixed mode performance. This could account for speed issues.

Crucial.com Product Downloads - Firmware Updates and choose the "Crucial v4 2.5-inch SSD" option under the drop down box.

Second, you can optionally disable the page file, as you aren't reading OS files from a traditional disk. This will eliminate a lot of read/write operations to the SSD, extending the lifetime, and freeing up read/write operations for other things. I typically run all my bench marks, disable it and reboot, the re-run benchmarks to ensure I didn't take a performance hit.

Third, I believe that the Alienware system you have uses an Intel based SATA chipset, so rapid storage manager is worthwhile, as it sets appropriate registry flags to tune for SSD's. There are some guides to doing this manually as well. I'll try to dig them up!

EDIT: If you'd like, you can PM me the output of HWiNFO which will show me much, much, more about your configuration. It is available for download here: HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download

I wouldn't post it publicly, however, as it may contain sensitive information such as your public IP address.

I was gonna update the firmware, but it will wipe out everything. I'm currently studying abroad and don't have a backup on me in case of emergency and would rather not update till I can get a backup drive (a slow computer is better than no computer?)

I'll try to disable the page file and see how that goes.

I had thought that the rapid storage manager was only for a RAID system configuration (correct me if I'm wrong)? If it's not, then I should probably install it. I'll try and do a little research on that.

I'll try and get my other configuration and pm it to you when I get the chance.

Also, I looked up the drive I use and it turns out that it might be a crappy drive Crucial V4 CT128V4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSD Only - Newegg.com

Most the reviews seem to have very similar problems to what I have (the firmware update might fix these though).

try doing a test with ATTO Disk Benchmark, you should have the transfer rate on the 500 MB/s.

my bench:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10651[/ATTACH]

ciao

So... I actually can't see (or post) pictures yet for some reason haha. But I did the ATTO Disk Benchmark with a transfer size of .5 to 8192 kb with a total length of 1 gb. The max I hit was 250 MB/s. So.. I'm guessing that's slow.

Also, I didn't mention before, but when it says I'm using 100% of my disk (and running slowly), it's only using 0.1-0.3 mb/s

When I first added an SSD to my desktop build, I had the same issue.

I ended up fixing it with a Firmware Flash, Intel Rapid Storage Monitor update, and by ensuring AHCI or Raid was enabled in the bios.

If you post your build info, with SSD firmware revision and bios revision, that would help!

Also, do I need the Intel Rapid Storage Monitor update for any ssd or just specific ones? I haven't installed it yet (don't know if it automatically did either). But AHCI is enabled

These are my system config. I just used dxdiag to find it all. Is there a different way to find config settings that would be better?

I don't know if it pulled my drive info (I posted disk drive information beneath the other).

------------------

System Information

------------------

Time of this report: 1/20/2014, 15:46:46

Machine name: --------------

Operating System: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit (6.3, Build 9600) (9600.winblue_gdr.131030-1505)

Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: Alienware

System Model: M14xR1

BIOS: InsydeH2O Version 1.0 A08

Processor: Intel® Core i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.0GHz

Memory: 8192MB RAM

Available OS Memory: 8140MB RAM

Page File: 3524MB used, 5895MB available

Windows Dir: C:\Windows

DirectX Version: DirectX 11

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)

System DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)

DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled

DxDiag Version: 6.03.9600.16384 64bit Unicode

------------------------

Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives

------------------------

Drive: C:

Free Space: 36.2 GB

Total Space: 121.8 GB

File System: NTFS

Model: V4-CT128V4SSD2

Thanks! Let me know if more information would be needed.

Side note: My computer seems to be running fine now, but I still get a good amount of occasional periods where my disk is using 100% and the entire system runs slowly. (I still need to check a few bios settings)

I'm not sure I understand. Is it normal that my disk is using 100% sometimes?

Also, it seems like my computer runs slower than when I had a normal hdd whenever it's using 100% disk

edit: oops, double post (Still not used to this site)

Hey y'all,

Sorry, if I don't seemed very well versed in what all I'm doing with a computer, as my background is somewhat limited. I have a m14x R1 and recently installed an SSD after a hard drive failure, but at certain times, everything on my computer will load very slowly. Is this due to the BIOS settings or something else? I'm planning on downloading the BIOS fix (as soon as I have 5 posts), but wanted to double check if there was something else wrong with my computer.

I've opened task manager while my computer is running slowly and it says it is using 100% of the disk (despite only showing a few applications using between .1 and .3 mb/s usually). Is that normal or is there something else wrong with my computer?

Thanks,